Purifying Emunah From Emotion

V'chol zos, despite the fact that the Chovot HaLevavot says that לא יעדהו באמת כי אם פילוסוף או נביא, u'vechol zos כל ישראל מאמינים באמת מציאותו ואחדותו עניין מושכל כזה because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is invisible, incorporeal. So belief in Hakadosh Baruch Hu means the grasping the reality of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. To know and believe in the reality of Hakadosh Baruch Hu requires an ability to grasp a notion which is very abstract, again, not abstract in the sense that Rachalmana litzlan removed, but abstract in the sense that there's no nothing physical, visible, tangible about that which the person is grasping. Inyan, that's what the Meshech Chochma means, inyan muskal kaze

ומלעיגים לכל ההרגשות וההתפעלות שמרגישים מצד הטבע ומבינים שהם כולם הוים ונפסדים אפשרי המציאות.

That which the Umot Ha'olam deify, which is basically forces of nature that they deify, again they deify that which arouses within them hargashot and hitpalut. That which arouses within them these physically driven emotions and excitement. So we recognize that all of that is not, that's not divine, means what's mechuyav hamitzi'ut, not what's contingent.

ועל זה ביארו מאמרם ז"ל מפני מה זכו ישראל לקרות שמע שהם בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב מבינים עניין פילוסופי כזה

veyil'agu lekhol hahargashot. So at this stage, and again, the havana here is composite, we're not setting the stage for a question but for a combination. So the Meshech Chochma seems to attribute the fact that despite what the Chovot HaLevavot says, again we saw last time that in Chovot HaLevavot itself there are shnei ketuvim here, despite the kevi'ah of the Chovot HaLevavot that it requires again someone with that capacity for abstract knowledge, just to be a philosopher, has to be a navi. So how is it then that this is something which has been universally believed amongst Bnei Yisrael? So initially the Meshech Chochma is indicating that it's a segulah that we inherit from the avot. מפני מה זכו ישראל לקרות שמע, again likrot Shema means not to say the words, not to say the six words of שמע ישראל ה' אלהינו ה' אחד but to be able to affirm the belief in Hashem Echad. Where does that come from? It comes from the, it's something that is a capacity which we inherited from the avot. מבינים עניין פילוסופי כזה. Uvekhakh, but now we'll see that the Torah is then protecting and fortifying this capacity.

כביכול בחכמתו שרצה שכל ישראל יתעצמו בעיון ושכל שיאמינו באחדותו.

Since HaKadosh Baruch Hu wanted that we should be able again through mental exertion, right, remember how the Chovos HaLevavos attributed lack of belief to atzlus v'shiflus, right, same thing being reflected here. שכל ישראל יתעצמו בעיון, no such thing as physical exertion, when a person physically exerts himself there's such a thing as as mental exertion. שכל ישראל יתעצמו בעיון and therefore there's such a thing as physical laziness there's also such a thing as intellectual laziness.

ולכך כביכול בחכמתו שרצה שכל ישראל יתעצמו בעיון ושכל שיאמינו באחדותו וכל ההרגשות והמוחשיים

again the the emotions the the tangibles in life lo yarei'u lahem. Zayin reish vav dalet. Looks like it's a dalet. Dalet or reish. Looks like should be a reish now. I have a reish. You have a reish. Okay good. I'll take it. lo yarei'u lahem v'lo yaziku l'muskalusam מה עשה לדרכי ההטעיה מכוחות המדמה והמעשה. So what did HaKadosh Baruch Hu do kaveyachol to strengthen us that we shouldn't allow our emunah to deteriorate into something again which is if it's emotionally driven if it's if if it's based on a hispa'alus from a sensory experience it can again easily result again into a some kind of corporeal belief.

הרבה להם תורה מושכלת רבה בתורה שבכתב ובתורה שבעל פה לחנך כוח השכל להיות קיים ועומד ומתגבר על המדמה

v'al ha-hargashos ha-meta'os right which lead a person to be to'eh to wander ומביאות להתפעל מהטבע ולשכוח היוצר בראשית v'la'asos kavod l'nivra'im hirbah lahem b'mitzvos lechazek lahem ha-hargashos כמו האהבה אהבת רעים chayei mishpacha ahavas uma

נקמה לנקום בשונאי השם חסד לעשות עם חברו וכל ההרגשות מקומן במצוות.

Let's just read a couple more lines and then and then try to understand.

יופי פרי עץ הדר ואחר זמן ואחרי החג נזרק וכיוצא בזה וזה רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל

peirush nikayon to cleanse milashon zikisi libi.

ולהעמידם על הדעת הפילוסופי ולבלי להתפתות מהציורים המוחשיים הרבה להם תורה מושכלת

laga'as b'koach ha-medameh

ומצוות ליקח כל המוחשים וההרגשות למצוות ומעשים טובים שלא יפתו את האדם לרע.

The Meshech Chochma it's an amazing amazing mahalach. A person has an emotional side as well. And that emotional side is aroused. A person has a capacity for and experiences ahava. A person has a capacity for nekama. He has a capacity for appreciating, appreciating beauty. All of which, each of which and all of which, if they become, if they they intrude into the tchum of emuna, interfere and and even prevent correct emuna b'Hashem. So what did Hakadosh Baruch Hu do? He channeled all this that there is an outlet for it. That that the again, the ahava which is in intertwined with, inseparable from from the physical, so it's channeled for ahavas re'im, chayei mishpacha, ahavas ha'uma. The appreciation for for beauty is is not something again, it is a capacity that we have and it's a capacity that that is going to surface. So the Torah channels it, all these the Torah channels into mitzvos. Concurrently through mitzvos of Anochi Hashem Elokecha, of ה' אלקינו ה' אחד, the Torah has the muskalos. And and once we have the correct outlet for the hargashos, so that allows us to cultivate the type of emuna which is not compromised, which is not lowered by the intrusion of these hargashos. If Hakadosh Baruch Hu is on the receiving end of of of the olam hazeh-dike ahava that is part of human experience, so inevitably It casts him and frames our belief in him in olam hazeh-dik categories. He becomes an old benevolent zeide with a long white beard who loves his grandchildren unstintingly. Now I am partial to old grandfathers, this is not an attack on old grandfathers, but that's like who the Ribono Shel Olam is, right? And you remember, could be that I'm just making a mistake, in which case you'll find it and correct it. You know, the same question that the Meshech Chochma is addressing in

רבי חנניה בן עקשיא רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל לפיכך הרבה להם תורה ומצוות,

it's basically the same question that the meforshim, the Rishonim address in the pasuk where Hakadosh Baruch Hu says to Moshe Rabbeinu

עלה אלי ההרה ואתנה לך את לוחות האבן והתורה והמצוה.

There too the question is: what does mitzvah mean as distinct from Torah, what does Torah mean as distinct from mitzvah? So in that context, so again, so we've seen the Rambam in the Hakdama to the Yad says that Torah means Torah Shebichtav and mitzvah is Torah Sheba'al Peh. Ramban in his Hakdama to the Parsha of the Torah says that mitzvah are the mitzvot, Torah refers to the narrative, so how is that nitpas in the name Torah? Because it teaches emuna. Refers to the narrative parts of Chumash primarily Sefer Bereishit. But again the Meshech Chochma is not explicitly applying it I think, I don't know, double check and make sure I'm not just making a mistake here. He's not explicitly applying it to the pasuk, but at least in the context of רבי חנניה בן עקשיא so his distinction is again Torah means pure muskalot ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, and mitzvah is something which again obviously using the word the term in a different way, you know, the pure muskalot are mitzvot also, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, ה' אלוקינו ה' אחד, these are mitzvot in the minyan hamitzvot and you're using the term in a different sense. And mitzvot again refer to that which directs the other dimensions of the human personality, the hargashos. Again the capacity for Ahava, Gevura, v'chulu. Lich'orah zakoh in the sense of רצה הקדוש ברוך הוא לזכות את ישראל perush nikayon, shemen zayit zach also. It means it's pure, it also means that it's clean, that it's pure in the sense that there's no sediment, no pulp, no.

ולכן נשא הציץ על הראש ויכתב קודש להשם שהשכל כולו קודש. אמנם על הלב מקור ההרגשות כתיב בני ישראל להורות שההרגשות יהיו על המצוות שברובם הם בהתאחדות האומה כמו בית הבחירה ועלייה ברגל ירושלים בלקט שכחה ופאה ומעשר ותרומה שזה התאחדות האומה. ולכן יהיו ההרגשות עסוקים במצוות.

Again, channel, provide the correct outlet.

ולא יתפתה לטבע להאריץ מה שהלב מתרגש מהם לעבוד עבודה זרה.

And if a person has an outlet for feelings of love, then he doesn't deify that hargasha and create a deity which is a physically conceived god of love. ולכן אפוד מכפר עבודה זרה. Okay, we'll stop here for now.